It would not have been righteous in any sense to have remitted the sins, until they were actually borne by One who could and did suffer for them. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Hope has reference to the future; and in this state of the Christian, he sighs for deliverance, and expects it. There is no brain activity, the consciousness is gone. The resurrection is here called the redemption of the body. I was always feeling guilty because I was always breaking my vow before God. Therein God is both vindicated and glorified. [The mind of the flesh, or] the carnal mind is death ( Romans 8:6 ); That is, spiritual death, which biblically would be interpreted as separation of man's consciousness from God. It is the same form of expression exactly as in the beginning of Romans 5:1-21 "being justified by faith" ( ). Here, then, it is a comparison of the two great heads Adam and Christ, and the immeasurable superiority of the second man is shown. With a touch of imaginative insight, he says that the state of nature was even worse than the state of men. God did it judicially; he passed a sentence upon the creatures for the sin of man, by which they became subject. ". And God knows what is going on and God is working even in this situation His good purpose in your life. I am an heir to God's kingdom. God is not reluctant to help you. The children of God shall appear in their own colours. There was an angel of the winds, of the clouds, of the snow and hail and hoarfrost. Not willingly - Not voluntarily. It was the logos ( G3056) which kept the stars in their courses and the planets in their appointed tracks. It is acknowledged that one of the principal graces of a Christian is hope (1 Corinthians 13:13), which necessarily implies a good thing to come, which is the object of that hope. Search. The Holy Ghost, who now gives the soul its consciousness of deliverance from its place in Christ, is also the witness that the body too, the mortal body, shall be delivered in its time. And this not willingly, not of their own choice. Paul says to these haunted men of his age: "The stars cannot hurt you. Not thus does God deal with souls. Because we possess the capacity to sin, when it is coupled with the determination to resist temptation to sin, the resultant effort becomes a spiritual exercise.Like a man training with dumbbells, the repeated resistance builds strength over time. The sufferings of the saints are but sufferings of this present time, strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time (2 Corinthians 4:17), light affliction, and but for a moment. What fun it would be to be an heir of some wealthy person. In the same way the apostle disposes of all pretence on the score of ordinances, especially circumcision. The discovery is made that the source of the internal misery was that the mind, though renewed, was occupied with the law as a means of dealing with, flesh. Intertextual Commentary on Romans, Volume 2: Romans 5:1--8:39 by Channing L. Cri . Proud member John Locke insisted that Adam's disobedience was not of his own will, since it occurred "not through his own choice, but by the guile of the devil. God said to Abraham: "You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" ( Genesis 22:12). So Paul goes on to think of human longing. Clearly this was a serious and an impressive step. Although many agree that God is spoken of here, Godet thought it was Adam who, through his rebellion, subjected the lower creation to the curse of God; and Hammond was quoted by him as applying the term "him". You say, "Oh, but I have failed God so miserably. Because of sin, there were massive changes in nature. He says that the mind of the flesh is death, and that it is hostile to God ( Romans 8:6; Romans 8:8). This hope is related to the thought in verse 21. Observe, At the second coming of Christ there will be a manifestation of the children of God. Observe, (1.) The quickening power of God therefore was here set forth, of course historically in a way connected with this life and a posterity on earth, but nevertheless a very just and true sign of God's power for the believer the quickening energy of God after a still more blessed sort. Corruption (phthora) is applied to the physical body in 1 Corinthians 15:42. All Sermons Bible Studies Devotionals Prayers. He means sinful human nature, apart from Christ, everything that attaches a man to the world instead of to God. Man became the object, first, of general dealings of God under Noah; next, of His special ways in the calling of Abraham and of his family. But even as He spoke to Abraham concerning his seed in the past tense, because He knew that Abraham was going to have a son whom He did foreknow. Let me refer in passing to a few points more in the introduction, in order to link them together with that which the Spirit was furnishing to the Roman saints, as well as to show the admirable perfectness of every word that inspiration has given us. In the creatures Romans 8:19-22; Romans 8:19-22. He could not have remitted heretofore. We have reason to pity the poor creatures that for our sin have become subject to vanity. God was not satisfied alone. ( Romans 8:35 ). Spiritual life which results in that glorious peace. It is almost universally agreed that Paul wrote Romans from the city of Corinth as he wintered there on his third missionary journey as described in Acts 20:2-3. It is the thing which troubles a renewed conscientious soul above all, because of his surprise at finding the deep evil of the flesh and its mind after having proved the great grace of God in the gift of Christ. It was as if they did not want to share God with anyone and had grudged man his share in him. At the same time he connects, in a singularly interesting manner, this disclosure of the principles of the eternal judgment of God with what he calls "my gospel." He was God over all blessed for ever, as well as their Messiah. Then there is another and crowning part of the blessing: "And not only so, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." Rather does it add to his guilt: such is man's evil state and will. That word delivered is speaking of the cross, delivered Him to die. (a) God has acquitted us; therefore no one can condemn us. Surely we can trust a loyalty like that for anything. Romans 3 Now that God has revealed Himself in the gospel, it is not what will suit man on earth, but what is worthy of the presence of the glory of God. "Righteousness" never means mercy, not even the "righteousness of God." The gospel means His glad tidings for man. The apostle shows them with astonishing force at the starting-point that he was far from slighting their privileges. Plants, animals, rocks, and dirt cannot in any sense yearn in hope. The words Paul uses of God are the very words God used of Abraham when Abraham proved his utter loyalty by being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. It was human nature in all its sin and weakness; it was all that man is without God and without Christ. He has already glorified me as far as He is concerned and, who is going to lay anything to my charge? And those who have, hungered shall rejoice; moreover, also, they shall behold marvels, every day. The sense of the apostle in these four verses we may take in the following observations:-- (1.) He shall come to Zion, says the other. It had condemned him to death. If he will submit his life to the control of the spirit.Paul had felt the condemnation of the law. 1 Corinthians 2. He uses still another picture from Roman adoption. Having shown first, then, the sources and the character of the blessing in general as far as regards deliverance, the apostle sums up the result in the end of the chapter: "That as sin hath reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life," the point being justification of life now through Jesus Christ our Lord. why am I still under bondage and misery from the constant evil of my nature, over which I seem to have no power whatever? Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit. If I don't know how to pray and I want to pray according to the will of God and here is my friend John over here and I don't know really how to pray for his situation. The first was known as mancipatio, and was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used. If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him. One day I am going to be free from this old body in this bondage of corruption and I am going to come into that glorious liberty of freedom. It is as if Paul said: "You think of Jesus as the Judge who is there to condemn; and well he might for he has won the right. So God has subjected us in hope as we hope for that day and we hope for that kingdom. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. If I want to have a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, I must live after the Spirit. But did this satisfy the apostle? Consequently the door is as open to the Gentile as to the Jew. For the created world has been subjected to chaos, not because of its own choice, but through him who passed the sentence of such subjugation upon it, and yet it still has the hope that the created world also will be liberated from this slavery to decay and will be brought to the freedom of the glory of the children of God; for we know that the whole creation unites together in groans and agonies. Not only they--not only the creatures which are not capable of such a happiness as the first-fruits of the Spirit, but even we, who have such present rich receivings, cannot but long for something more and greater. He now, by a kind of personification, ascribes hope to them, as he did will before. It is not in any degree settled as to itself by His blood. God said to Jeremiah, "I will make a new covenant with the people, no longer written on the tables of stone, but I will write my law in the fleshly tablets of their hearts." That is Paul's argument, and, to him and to those who heard it, it was completely convincing, however hard it is for us to grasp it. It is His righteousness, or, in other words, His perfect consistency with Himself, which is always involved in the notion of righteousness. May the life, the joy, the love, the peace of Christ just keep your life as you walk in the Spirit, being lead by the Spirit in close communion with God, as His Spirit just bears witness with your spirit of that glorious relationship that you have as God's child, His heir for all eternity. See Lightfoot. For what remains unsolved by and in Christ? He has subjected the same in hope because, or for we know. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?" Verses 20, 21. There never was an hour since Israel's existence as a nation that God has not had His remnant of them. He had reasoned the case within himself, weighed the arguments on both sides, and thus at last resolves the point. I have got it made. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Now there is no way in which God could lay a basis for peace with Himself more blessed than as He has done it. Oftentimes, the good that he would do he didn't do. THESE ARE THE TIMES that try men's souls. Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. They weren't quite sure though. Who is the one condemning? . California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Nevertheless the apostle does not expressly mention heaven here. ( Romans 8:24 ). They do not come to it as purchasers by any merit or procurement of their own; but as heirs, purely by the act of God; for God makes heirs. How many times have you interpreted it that way? We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Or, We groan among ourselves. On the contrary, it was the Jew provoked by the Gentiles "By them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." Therefore, if I had a new mansion I wouldn't need any bedrooms. Vanity describes the wretchedness, sufferings, disappointments, frustrations, futilities and general tragedy of mortal life in a state of separation from God, due to man's sin. Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now he observes an expectation of this glory. It is God who acquits. Like it or not, God created you for His own good pleasure. But what is testified by Christian baptism is Christ's death. The third included angels and archangels and principalities. And we know that all things are working together for good to those that love God, and are the called according to his purpose ( Romans 8:28 ). subjection, as that they could not deliver themselves from it; Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. True ministry gives out not merely truth, but suited truth to the saints. It is against the "unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Some day there would come The Day of the Lord. It is so with us if we love God. "At any rate he is a saved soul," we hear. Was he not himself, says Paul, a proof to the contrary? Someone may object: "You say that the Spirit-controlled man is on the way to life; but in point of fact every man must die. The first is Moses himself. And in the area of the spirit and God's Spirit is bearing witness with my spirit that I am a son of God.Thus, I am united with God and joined with God and I have fellowship with God in the realm of the spirit, only when the spirit is uppermost. God is proved thus divinely consistent with Himself in Christ Jesus, whom He has set forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood. "For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. If possible have your Bible with you should God want to give you direction or confirmation from it. The spirit is groaning, waiting for that perfect work of God. No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas, in the absolute possession and under the absolute control, of his father. In this, as in other things, God hath made our present state a state of trial and probation--that our reward is out of sight. He has no mind of his own; Christ is his mind. The penalty of the past is removed and strength for his future is assured. Oh, how grateful we are for that love of God for us tonight in Christ Jesus. 8:2 (a) NAS "t he law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is much more literal than the NIV rendering. Proof that this view is right is found in 20b where Paul said, not of its own will. This is another example of personifying nature (human emotions are applied to inanimate objects). The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. That was said to Paul, rather than what was taught by Paul. He begins with the great epoch of the dispensations of God (that is, the ages since the flood). I think it would be good for all of us to make a little plaque and put it on our mirrors or someplace where we are reminded every day that all things are working together for good to those who love God. evil practices, but the devil made them subject, or slaves unto It's transient. What is it we are thus desiring and waiting for? God judged not only man but creation . Thus one could not fail to see these two weighty inferences: the bringing in to be God's sons of those that had not been His people, and the judgment and destruction of the great mass of His undoubted people. There are some who still believe that; but the ancient world was really haunted by this supposed domination of a man's life by the influence of the stars. It does not matter; even then, when this world has passed and the new world come, the bond is still the same. Read Introduction to Romans 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; . It was not merely better light in the conscience, which might be elsewhere, as is supposed in the early verses of our chapter; but the Jew's position was directly and unquestionably one of divine tests applied to man's estate. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. We do not need to be very old to look back and see that things we thought were disasters worked out to our good; things that we thought were disappointments worked out to greater blessings. When the Bible speaks of God knowing a man, it means that he has a purpose and a plan and a task for that man. Accordingly, then, he confronts the unquestionable truth, admitted by every Israelite, of the universal havoc by one man everywhere with the One man who has brought in (not pardon only, but, as we shall find) eternal life and liberty liberty now in the free gift of life, but a liberty that will never cease for the soul's enjoyment until it has embraced the very body that still groans, and this because of the Holy Ghost who dwells in it. To those that were under it, to be sure. Then, from ver. And this redemption of the creature is reserved till then; for, as it was with man and for man that they fell under the curse, so with man and for man they shall be delivered. Height (hupsoma, G5313) was the time when a star was at its zenith and its influence was greatest; depth (bathos, G899) was the time when a star was at its lowest, waiting to rise and to put its influence on some man. But you know what it is to be more than a conqueror? But there is more, which Paul afterwards insisted on. He doesn't keep a record of my mistakes, my sins, my failures. It is no longer a question of man's guilt, but of his nature. Roman adoption was always rendered more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas. One might know a most real clinging to Jesus; but this would not set the heart at ease with God. Men are saved because they were once involved in Adam's sin but are now involved in Jesus' goodness. The apostle writes with the full assertion of his own apostolic dignity, but as a servant also. Was it not sure and evident that Israel could not take the promise on the ground of mere connection after the flesh? We surrender our bodies, and our tongues, to the Holy Spirit in faith, and the Holy Spirit gives us the appropriate words in prayer through our tongues. If that is true of nature, it is still truer of man. But it is the consequences of adoption which are most significant for the picture that is in Paul's mind. I think that all of us have experienced that very same struggle. (ii) But there is another way to take it. The last verses of the chapter, however, bring in the deliverance not yet the fulness of it, but the hinge, so to speak. Thy Strong Word. The meaning is not what was executed on Christ, but what is in virtue. Don't marvel when I say to you, ye must be born again." . It got awfully cold at night and there were disadvantages. by all that remains of the ancient world. God doesn't have to be begged to come to your assistance. If I think of prayer as an instrument by which I can get my will done, I totally misunderstand prayer. Hence he infers (v. 8), Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. God, therefore, had not cast off His people, but was employing the interval of their slip from their place, in consequence of their rejection of Christ, to call the Gentiles in sovereign mercy, after which Israel as a whole should be saved. It is only when we understand how serious and complicated a step Roman adoption was that we really under stand the depth of meaning in this passage. When the world was drowned, and almost all the creatures in it, surely then it was subject to vanity indeed. But to have to see your child suffer . The apostle is therefore plainly in presence of the broadest possible grounds of comparison, though we shall find more too. But then it will be complete, when the Captain of our salvation shall bring the many sons to glory, Hebrews 2:10. Paul has argued this point at length already in Romans 5:12-21. but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope: Mankind did not desire to be subjected to these processes that lead to death, but this was the just consequence of Adams sin that passed upon all men universally. We frankly confess it. This occupies the central part of the chapter, which then closes with the unfailing and faithful power of God for us in all our experiences here below. It is an ancient tradition among the Jews, that this tower was built on an idolatrous account. But there is more than this in Romans 4:1-25 He takes up a third feature of Abraham's case; that is, the connection of the promise with resurrection. To allow the things of the world completely to dominate life is self extinction; it is spiritual suicide. While striving for holiness under the law, Paul had focused on the commands (e.g., "lust") so that his mind-set was fleshly: "I must steer clear of all lust." This fleshly orientation doomed him to commit the very sin he sought to avoid. First of all the apostle points out that death has come in, and that this was no consequence of law, but before it. His love is there and constant. Most things do work together for good to those that love God. Romans 7:1-20. In Romans 8:19 he uses a wonderful word for eager expectation. "Not so," replies the apostle. The trees shall, yield their proper fruits, and rich flocks, and kine, and lambs, of sheep and kids of goats. )_ 2. He had one of the most fabulous electric trains, a huge one. Latest Posts. The adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. That always amazes me, but it shouldn't surprise me because He knows everything. And gals, we are just not complete without you. The first-fruits did both sanctify and ensure the lump. I am groaning. And mark the force of it whosoever." Oh, if you only knew how much God loves you, you would never run away from Him again. This is a state of mind, and not the necessary or immediate fruit of Romans 3:1-31, but is based on the truth of Romans 4:1-25 as well as 3. It will be observed therefore, that in this connection the apostle shows the place both of conscience and of the law, that God in judging will take into full consideration the circumstances and condition of every soul of man. Will usually post within 20 business days of receiving cleared payment. But he introduces all parts of the world, by a sort of personification, as being endued with reason; and he does this in order to shame our stupidity, when the uncertain fluctuation of this world, which we see, does not raise our minds to higher things. "They said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, and let its head reach unto the top of heaven; and let us make a house of worship in the top of it; and let us put a sword in his hand that he may wage war for us against our enemies, before we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Disappointments, setbacks, things that I just don't understand, and I am prone to be concerned, or worried, or get upset, and then this verse will come to mind. And this leads the apostle into the moral history of man the proof both of his inexcusable guilt, and of his extreme need of redemption. In that state the law simply became something that moved him to sin and he went from bad to worse, a defeated and frustrated man. Many times I am willing to acknowledge, "Oh yes, God is going to work out good in this. Under the bondage of corruption,Romans 8:21; Romans 8:21. Alas! Scripture Romans 8 Sort Bible Verse. He shall own that once glorious seat of royalty in Israel. . There is water as well as blood, and to that, not to this, the washing here refers. For those whom he knew long ago he long ago designed to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. For the law which comes from the Spirit and leads to life has in Christ Jesus set me free from the law which begets sin and leads to death. The whole species of creatures is designed for, and is hastening to, a total dissolution by fire. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, the old things have passed away and all things become new" ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ) and it is interesting how even our desires change so dramatically when we are in Christ. No, for in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us ( Romans 8:37 ).